Yes, there is a lot of text. I hope I explained everything properly. As always, if you have any questions, just ask!

It was brought to my attention that I used a couple of terms that not everyone may be familiar with, so here are some clarifications:

*complementary colors are color that sit directly across from each other on the color wheel such as:Red and GreenYellow and VioletOrange and Blue[link]Using complementary colors, or colors that are closely adjacent to those colors, creature depth and variety in your shadows and highlights. Try it!

I mostly use a hard round brush with the opacity set to pen pressure and the master opacity turned down to less than 30%, usually much less, especially when blending. And I paint on the shading using just regular grayscale colors. For softer areas I turn down the brush hardness to around 50%.

I may try that, if you don't mind. I find that I really enjoy greyscaling, so I can just concentrate on the lighting, and focus on the colour later. I think I'll be studying your youtube videos. Do you have an opinion on the dodge/burn? Sorry if I am being kind of.... annoying? I just want to learn and become better. It's something I really enjoy doing.

No worries! I hope my rambling is helpful in some way, lol.I don't think I've ever tried to grayscale with the dodge/burn tools but I bet it would work just the same if you started with a medium gray base. I used to use dodge/burn all the time, but I can't seem to get the effects that I want from them anymore.

I used the dodge/burn in my last 3 uploads. As long as it is not too strong, it works well with greyscale. I applied to a college for Graphic Design, and right now I wish high school was over so I could just practice creating horse art... And your rambling is helpful.

I think it depends on the person. For me the advantage is really focusing on the shading and getting the forms and details just right without having to worry about mixing colors at the same time. I don't know if it is more complicated (it is actually easier for me) but there are definitely more steps.

For step 1 I painted with a hard, round brush set to pen pressure for opacity, sort of in a blobby swirly motion. I do the shadows first, then smudge really lightly, then do a new layer of highlights and smudge lightly. It does lose a bit of texture if you smudge too much, so blending as much as possible with the paint brush helps.

Girl. You saved my life. I've been searching dA like mad for good tut. Your tut is by far the easiest to understand and actually do. I've been grayscale shading like crazy but I can never seem to get the colors on right. This will surely help me!You are awesome for making this. Thank you Bec!!

It should...though you may want to check out an Adobe help site or a tutorial that is especially made for PS Elements. I have not worked in Elements for a long time, so I can't say for sure. But if I remember correctly, it should have the capability.